The Fruitless Endeavor
''"Oh, they’re not Shadow Bugs anymore. They’re much better than that now. I believe the term you are looking for is Starvia. It is a much better alternative, more advanced. You see these beautiful wisps over here, they will soon be your brothers. Soon you both shall be free from the burden of conflict and become one with the rest of my children" ''- Black Shadow The Fruitless Endeavor was a mission created by Mr. Game & Watch. It is meant to be the precursor to A Celebration of Life. Cast Player Characters ''' Mr. Game & Watch Mr. L Wolf O' Donnel '''Non-Player Characters Black Doom Black Shadow Mission Briefing "Unit Mr. Game & Watch has been spotted leaving the Life Sphere frequently, as of last week he has left the Life Sphere on a daily basis. This unit has other matters to attend to, so your help would be well appreciated. Currently he is out in the infected lands, security cameras have picked up that he was heading north, toward Sector X. He is not authorized to leave the Life Sphere on a daily basis and with this much exposure to the outside air his chances of becoming infected has increased, thus making him a potential threat to our society if he continues. It is also unnecessary to lose a civilian to a possible infected ambush. This unit shall upload coordinates to his most possible location, please attempt to return him unharmed." - A.I.M. Plot The duo of Wolf and Mr. L ventured out into the wastelands of Sector X to find Mr. Game & Watch in order to return him to the Life Sphere. The amount of booping and buzzing he did made his location very easy to come upon, though during the trek the two encountered a Black Fruit, a notable calling card of Black Doom. It meant that he was no doubt in the area or had been previously. In a matter of minutes, the flat man was found digging through the landscape looking for the vessel that he crashed on the planet with, his Game & Watch device. The duo debated plans on capturing the flat man and it was decided that distracting and snatching him would be the best option. Meanwhile, a big and nasty looking black hovercraft began to race toward their location. In haste, a series of infected Plasma Wisps were released from the racer and began barreling towards them. Once the plasma creatures were within range to attack the trio, they oddly didn’t, instead they merely surrounded them and awaited further instructions. The race car came to a screeching halt once it was within the area, Black Shadow stepping out of the vehicle. He immediately questioned about the location of Mr. G&W and once he got his answer he summoned a black cloud over the three of them to allow some sort of Shadow Bug-like substance over them. He later revealed the substance to be the Starvia in its purest form, but before the disease could enter their systems, Black Doom’s Eye appeared and blew away the bugs with his Black Hawk before they could touch any of them. The gauntlet was cast and the battle between the three parties commenced. All three scattered in order to snatch G&W from the others, since he was the sole source of Shadow Bugs on the planet. The winged Black Alien was the first to grasp Mr. Game & Watch, but the flat man seemed to have his own agenda. With all the enemies flooding the area, he much preferred to fight, so he transformed into his Octopus Form and began to flail about, easily escaping his captor’s grasp. The brawl continued, a couple Plasma Wisps being defeated quickly and Doom’s Eye getting speared. Once Game & Watch’s transformation depleted, he was swept up by the black bird once again, though this time Mr. L managed to grasp at his leg before the creature took off. The bird managed to get off the ground slightly, though accidentally flew through a Starvia cloud in the process. Neither the bird nor G&W were infected in the process. Mr. L and G&W were dropped from the bird, the weight being too much for it to handle. The duo began to float gently back to the ground thanks to Mr. G&W’s parachute. In the meanwhile, Mr. L decided to try and get some answers from Black Shadow, mostly on how he was capable of controlling the infected. He replied easily with that they were his children and he wouldn’t be a good father if he couldn’t control his children. As the battle with the wisps was coming to a conclusion, a black hole-like vortex opened over the landscape. Black Shadow’s dialogue suggested that it was an ally of his that opened it up without his say. It began to absorb everything in its surroundings, though Wolf and Mr. L made their stances in order to prevent themselves from being sucked in as well. Through a combination of Mr. L’s Brobot and Wolf’s Isaac Assist Trophy, Black Shadow was shot back into the portal. During the fight, Black Doom had managed to implant a part of himself into Black Shadow’s mind in order to spy on their operations. According to his report, Black Shadow’s base was heavily damaged by the Brobot’s explosion, which caused them to close the portal up. Black Shadow supposedly wanted to open the black hole up once again to catch them off guard, so they had to leave the location immediately. Community Effect This mission marked the new direction that Mr. Game & Watch pulled the site-wide plot based on the events that transpired in A Celebration of Life. Despite that, this thread takes place before A Celebration of Life. This thread showed that it was possible to be immune to the Starvia as both Mr. Game & Watch and Black Doom's grunts were incapable of being infected by Black Shadow's Starvia cloud. Mr. Game & Watch was made up of a strange substance that was the main ingredient for Shadow Bugs, so it was natural that they could not possess him. Black Doom's creatures have not been given a full explanation as of yet, though Black Doom states that their genetic perfection was the cause of it. References Mission Log Mission Thread Category:Mission